Scenario Alternate
by Dessel Ordo
Summary: A revelation leads to Gendo Ikari changing his designs on SEELE's scenario and the angels. The road will be long, bloody, and tear-drenched, but now that they are truly working to save humanity, NERV cannot affort falter on the path the Bastard King set them on, and they cannot afford to fail.
1. Chapter 1

I dont own Evangelion, and I dont make anything from this.

Yes, I know, I have another big fic in progress, and a second I've been promising to clean up and get back to for years now, but the first chapter of this story has been sitting ready for months now, and I'm tired of beta hunting (though I still want one for this fic if I can find one). Be forewarned, this will update slower than my other fics, and will get dark.

* * *

Grief is a fickle driving force in the very best of times. For one Gendo Ikari, it had been his sole motivator, the pain of loosing his wife, the desire to have her back, and the tantalizing lure of a way to make it possible. And then, after over a decade of scheming, making deals with the devil, and locking away every emotion that attempted to force its way through, he passed into the final faze of grieving. Unfortunately for him this acceptance and new clarity of mind gave him wonderful perspective on what his beloved wifes reaction to how he had carried out her plan, and himself after her noble sacrifice in the battle to save the human race would be. In his mind, he could see her face perfectly, bearing an expression he had only seen on it once, which had been followed by an ice cold, steely, argument shattering voice announcing "We're through." Said phrase had been followed by a door being slammed in his face, and, up until her death, the hardest, most soul crushing 6 months of his life before her death. It had been the only break in their relationship since they began dating, and it had been over what he had thought was a simple white lie.

Currently, his only son, the Child who was just as much his departed wifes, is screaming in impotent rage and grief as the Dummy Plug controlling Eva Unit 01 continues to pummel the inert, defeated form of EVA 03, piloted by his best friend, one soon to be dead Toji Suzahara. The berserk purple behemoth wrenches the entry plug from the all but obliterated mass of Unit 03, and just as one of the bridge crew below him utters some inconsequential, shocked statement, time seems to slow for Gendo. He could do nothing, continue on his current path, proceed with the scenario, and, at his victory have the very thing he had striven and bled for for so many years at the very best strike him down in vengeance; or... "Sever all control links to Unit 01, and dispatch recovery teams. We have 3 heavily damaged units in the field." everything snaps back to full speed as the scenario is still the same, but his plan for it has been altered. The Scenario shifts along an alternate route as the man often refereed to in places thought to be beyond his reach or behind his back as the 'Bastard King' rises from his seat and coldly orders "Fuyutsuki, Akagi."

The selected pair rise from their seats as the stricken plug gains its first few permanent creases and kinks, just before the crushing weight being applied to it is halted. The doors to the lift the trio typically enter and exit the Command Bridge through closes behind them but moments later. "Commander was that decision wise?" the sub-commander asks as the lift descends.

"We are shifting to the primary alternate scenario. Akagi, what is the status of Project D?" Gendo replies, all but ignoring his second in command and right hand man.

Akagi physically, if minutely, starts, and a glimmer of what just may be hope flashes across her face before shifting back to cold, calculating apathy almost on par with the Commanders before she replies "Ready for preliminary testing. Commander-"

"And the R type MAGI closed drive simulations?" the bespectacled man cuts her off.

She glares at her superior before tersely replying "79% chance of success if we were ever stupid enough to attempt it." Gendo nods, and silence reigns for five minutes, Akagi fuming, Fuyutsuki guardedly curious, and Gendo perfectly and seemingly obliviously himself.

The door opens as the lift stops at Akagi's usual point of departure "We will have a live test of both soon, see to it that they are ready."

"With all due respect sir, why? I may not be a trained tactician, but we defeated Badriel." Akagi presses, not moving to exit the lift.

Gendo looks at her as a parent would look at a petulant, poorly educated child, the low light preventing his tinted glasses from hiding his disapproval and disdain as he answers "The angels are capable of subverting the only weapon we have to defeat them. If the human race is to survive, its true defenders must be secure. Fuyutsuki, you will relay a Condition Terminus order to the other NERV branches, Seraphim level clearance with my pass-code once you reach your office. Akagi, you have your orders and are dismissed.

The bleach blond steps backwards through the doorway as if she had been struck, and Gendo wastes no time in closing the door. "Rokubungi. What The HELL Are You Thinking?!" the sub-commander demands, as close to shouting as he has ever come towards the younger man since he married the woman both of them adored.

The schemer glances sideways at his furious elder, and calmly answers "More appropriately, what were WE thinking, Kozo?" the older man opens his mouth to answer, but is cut off by Gendo as the man continues "Were OUR plans for the Scenario to succeed, what is the first thing she would do, after learning of what we did, how we perverted HER plan?"

"She would-"

"Without lying to yourself, Kozo." Gendo again cuts him off.

Kozo heaves a broken sigh as his shoulders droop, and his head drops in shame nearly ten minutes pass with naught but the clicking of the lifts motors filling the chamber pass "A quick death would be the best we could hope for. The human race all but extinct, her son among their number at best, likely a raving, broken psychotic shell of a boy more likely..." his voice devoid of exaggeration or hyperbole.

Gendo nods "The only course left to us is to defeat the old men. What do you expect the other branches reaction will be?"

"Bethany and Beijing are fully under the Old Mens sway, Berlin and Massachusets a split, Matsushiro and Hamburg will be a bloody wash with the UN forces so close." Kozo forces out of a trembling mouth.

Again, Gendo simply nods as the door to the sub-level of the NERV headquarters both of their offices are on opens "Send the message, text only, we will launch once the refugees have been moved and the Units are recovered. I will join you in my office for a full disclosure briefing on the situation for the Children, Inspector Kaji and Major Katsuragi after Adams Embryo has been put to The Lance."

Kozo freezes in his progress just after his left foot crosses the threshold from the lift to the corridor to his office "I thought you had..."

Gendo smirks as he replies "I had planned to fuse with it after Badriels defeat. It seems that fate has smiled upon us."

Kozo shakes his head "Though statistics, and history might not once this is over. You've said it yourself many times, Gendo, humanity has no time left"

Gendo spares his former teacher, and current right hand man a glance as the door closes and replies "Then we will have to make time." They had a lot of work to do, and, for the first time since his senior thesis, they would truly be working together.

*Alternate*

Shinji Ikari stands before his father, doing his best to look angry rather than terrified, one bandaged, ragged looking Toji Suzahara leaning heavily on his shoulder. Rei stands impassively next to the wounded pilot, Asuka stands fuming next to NERVs best pilot, all four still in their plugsuits and reeking of LCL. Behind them an irritated Misato stands at attention and Kaji is slouching with his hands crammed into his pockets. "I have decided to adjust my plan for the scenario, you will need to be informed of several things for this to be an effective changeover.

"Scenario?" Misato asks, shifting her gaze from her commander to Rei, the tilt of her eyebrows, and set of her shoulders shift ever so slightly, to what many would see as another flavor of apathy. Having known the girl for years however, Misato can see the sheer terror resonating throughout her frame.

Gendo nods "That is correct, the entirety of the Angel War is a known entity, our backers had laid out a scenario, and a plan of their own design for it. Mine and theirs no longer coincide. Full disclosure of our situation to the six of you is now a necessity. It will also require us to wage war upon the portion of our race under the control of SEELE."

"How much?" Shiji all but whispers, somehow heading off the fiery Major behind him.

The bearded man spares his son a brief glance, before he replies "We knew your mother was not going to be leaving unit 01, and she entered it willingly. Kyoko's soulless body carrying on living as long as it did after her contact experiment was a wrinkle, but not one we could not overcome. It is fortunate that it merely hung a doll instead of its actual daughter when the body finally snapped." Both the second and third children take a mortified step back, Asuka teetering on the precipice between fight and flight as she silently mouths 'mama', Shinji's face hardens to a mask of rage.

Kaji takes a step forward, interposing himself between the pilots and the commander "The reason for this being?"

"The Evangelions are raging beasts, the product of research on the first angel and necessity. Without a human soul, one that cares for and has a desire to be near and protect the pilot, they would absorb the pilot and go on a destructive rampage." Gendo answers matter-of-factly.

Toji finally decides to speak up at this "So my mom? The Class Rep's, Kens? Ayanamis?"

Gendo continues to hold his gaze on Kaji, and replies "Excluding Ayanami, all of your classmates without a parent are potential pilots, and many of them will likely be drafted into service as such before our war on SEELE is over."

"Why not Ayanami's mother?" Shinji presses icily.

Gendo's gaze returns to regard his son, and the man answers "Because she does not have a human mother. Her genetic data is a combination of Lillith, the Frist Angels, and your mothers. Though the nature of Liliths DNA means that she bears no relationship to you. Unit 00 contains the mother of Ritsuko Akagi. Rei's poor synchronization with it is in part due to to lack of maternal instinct, partly the emotional suppressants I have had her taking, and partly because I used the first version of Rei to compel the older Akagi to kill herself when her usefulness ran out. By all rights an angelic hybrid such as her should have far and away the best synchronization score of all the pilots."

Asuka finally falls from her stupor, face shifting to match Shinji's as she asks "First version?"

Gendo nods "Yes, we created hundreds of clones of her. Akagi was no longer of any use, so I ordered Rei to insinuate that I had no more use for her, intimately or scientifically. Rei One was suffocated then Akagi leapt from the command bridge. I simply transferred Rei's soul to the body she has inhabited since then."

"Sir?" Rei asks, voice quiet and scarred enough for all in the room to notice.

Gendo presses his lips together, though his hands prevent anyone from seeing this "I suppose you will need some manner of new orders." he pauses, as if to think, for a moment, before adding "You will cease taking the entire course of medication, as they are all limiters. You will live as normal a life as possible while remaining an evangelion pilot, and you will cease your constant looking to me for how you should proceed in any given situation, as I do not have the time to deal with a constantly nagging child. I would suggest finding a person to show you how to properly interact with others, you have become socially stunted over the years." and at that, he looks back to the rest of his pilot and command corps and awaits the next question.

"SEELE... you've mentioned them and waging war with them several times. Care to elaborate?" Misato finally demands, having been cut off by her co-workers rapidfire questions and Gendos ice cold, calm responses up to this point.

Gendo nods "They are the organization that funds us through their puppet UN. They are the ones who funded the Katsuragi Expedition, and they knew what its outcome would be before it bagan. Anything related to the angels save their creation can be traced back to SEELE." the bespectacled man pauses to breathe then continues "Their goal is to ascend to godhood, or something near enough by instigating a Third Impact and wiping out the remainder of the human race. I had intended to do the same, though not to the end of godhood. Now our goal is to defeat the remaining 4 angels, without allowing a 3rd impact, then SEELEs puppet government."

Again, Misato is the first to recover from this revelation, asking "What forces will be at our disposal, Sir?" through teeth millimeters from clenching and with her almost fists trembling in rage. Her ramrod straight parade ground attention does not falter, however.

"I will send you a complete briefing once we know which branches are loyal to us, and what portion of them made it to orbit with us, General Katsuragi." Gendo replies "You are dismissed."

"O-orbit?" Shiji asks, fear again staining his voice.

A thunderous roar prevents any further discussion, then a mighty lurching spills all but Gendo and Kozo to the floor. "Yes, our base of operations must be secure. We will have Luna terraformed to better resemble earth before four months, and our ability to clean the oxygen on our ships have passed."

A hologram springs to life from Gendo's desk "Commander, Lilith has been lowered beneath the thrusters, charges ready." Ritsuko Akagis wireframe face announces.

Gendo nods "Be sure to cease blasting once the main mass is reduced by 80% . We need a smokescreen to buy us time, but I doubt the Mass Production models will be able to defeat the last 4 angels."

"The dummy plug system-"

"Is in the hands of SEELE by now. They were observing that portion of their plan far to closely for the information for it to not have been stolen immediately upon completion." Gendo cuts her off, before cutting the link "Chief of security Kaji, now that you know the truth can I trust your loyalty?" The ponytailed man glances over to the freshly promoted Misato, then nods an affirmative, his face set in a scowl. "I have granted all of you full clearance on all materials regarding the angels and SEELE, I would recommend looking into it. Dismissed." The man watches the group file from the room, Shiji and Toji taking up the rear. When the duo is a step away from the door, the rest far from earshot he adds "Shiji, I have been a terrible father, and will have to continue to be one until this is resolved. Knowing your mother, you will grow into a man I will be proud to become acquainted with one day." he pauses, smirking beneath his tented hands "And on the matter of Ayanami and Soryu... both are fine girls, it would be a shame to lose either." The younger Ikari resumes his stride as soon as it is clear that Gendo has nothing more to say.

The duo is halfway down the hall when Toji finally breaks the silence "Yer dads a dick, Shin-man."

Shiji lets out a cold, stressed laugh, before answering "Yea, I know."

*Alternate*

Asuka had planned to storm all the way back to their apartment, until she realized that she will probably never see it, or most of her things again. Additionaly, that she does not know where she will be living. And on top of that, she is still clad in an LCL caked plugsuit. She doubles back to a very timid, small looking Rei angling towards the locker room. "So, you gave me the cold shoulder when we met because..."

"It is all I know, and I was ordered to-"

"Stop right there Wondergirl. Orders obviously need to matter less for you from now on." Asuka cuts the other girl off as the pair turns towards the girls locker room to change.

Rei tilts her head up to regard the redhead as she answers "But the commander-"

"That Bastard _also_ needs to matter less to you." Asuka again cuts her off as the door to the locker room shuts behind her.

Rei frowns as she unseals her plugsuit and steps out of it towards the shower, not bothering to procure a towel or cover herself on the way. "But he gave me purpose, had me created. Why would he not matter?"

A loud thump, the long-suffering, excessively dented locker beneath Asukas being kicked, again, echoes into the showers followed by the redhead in question, armed with a bottle of bodywash and one of shampoo "He also had you killed once, apparently. Add to that the fact that he had you on emotion suppressants and... how long do those drugs last?" she asks as she begins to lather.

"I take the pills daily, I have not broken prescription, or run out, so I do not know how long the effects will persist." The blue haired girl replies as she flips the top of the antimicrobial soap/shampoo that had been in the shower open.

Asuka turns to face the girl, one had covering her breasts as she allows the shower to rinse her back "Fine." she huffs, "we'll try this again when you arent stuck as a _doll_." she pauses as Rei turns around as she pours out some of the soap into her hand "Whats that?"

"The soap that is provided." She answers plainly.

Asuka sighs, and tosses her bottle at the other girl "What that Baka Shiji sees in you I dont know. Dont you take care of yourself?"

Rei takes a step back when the bottle bounces off of her chest, before stooping to collect and try the new soap. "He seemed greatly distracted when he saw my body. And I both clean and feed myself."

The german snorts in derision "You in a uniform was enough to set that Baka off?" as she begins to shampoo her hair.

"No, when I walked out of my shower when he visited my apartment." Rei answers plainly as she begins to soap her body. "His distraction prevented him from fulfilling his mission to provide me with my new clearance card."

Asuka had shared a locker room with the blue haired hybrid long enough to know exactly what that entailed. It takes almost five seconds of shocked silence for her face to finish shifting to a beet red, though her exclamation is cut off by Maya's voice announcing over the PA system "Pilot First Class Suzahara and Technical Sergeant Ikara to the Pribnow box."

It is muffled, but Toji's cry of "OH COME ON!" can be clearly heard through the too-thin wall separating the girls and boys pilot lockers.

"You wouldnt happen to know when we got ranks, would you?" Asuka asks, filing away the information for the next time she is bored and Shiji is handy.

Rei is silent for a moment, likely rinsing her face, before answering "I would assume that occurred when we became a rebel army. I was not privy to any such information beforehand."

Asuka stops at the door to the shower, a towel wrapped around her body "And what information were you privy to?" her voice gaining an icy edge.

"The personal details Commander Ikari revealed. The nature of our war against the angels, my self-sacrificial role in the scenario." the blue haired girl states as she shuts her shower off and moves to follow the other girl "And the specifics of my first iterations death. Most of her memories are lost to me, in fact. My memory begins at age 9 when this body was decanted."

Asuka still has not moved, and now is preventing Rei from leaving the shower room "And you didnt tell us any of what you knew because?" her voice becoming even more dangerously cold, as its pitch dips to an angry growl.

"I only knew out of necessity, and the Commander would have had you killed." Rei answers as she waits patiently behind Asuka. "And you never asked." she adds in what would be an aside were it not for her level tone.

The fiery redhead deflates "We never would have thought to ask anyways." she mumbles as she starts forward again "But so help me if you or the Baka is ranked higher than me I swear I'll-"

"That is unlikely, as both Ikari-kun and I lack military training, which you posses." Rei cuts off the other girls rant "And as I would trust battlefield orders from you over him, I would have to agree with your sentiment." she answers with the same cold bluntness that has always been her way of communicating with others as she begins to dry off to dress.

Rei opens her mouth to continue only to be cut off by a brightly grinning Asuka turning around as she clasps her bra to interject "You might not be half-bad Wondergirl."

"Provided you maintain a level head." Rei finishes her statement. Asukas left eye begins to twitch.

*Alternate*

"Why are we here again?" Toji asks crossly, arms folded over his chest.

"Toji, you have to log some simulation body time, as Unit 03 will be ready long before any new Units are built. I dont even know where we'll be getting the raw materials to build them from to be honest." Misato answers.

Shinji shifts about on his feet, looking down "What do you need me for?"

Misato heaves a sigh, before her features steel and she barks out "Stand at attention when addressing a superior officer, Ikari." before her features almost immediately soften as he does his best to do so without instinctively voiding his bowels, and she adds "Unit 01 is the only undamaged unit, so it has been outfitted with Type X Zero G gear, and you will be on first shift guard duty. We dont expect any angels, or MP Evas to attack, but we cant take any chances." she pauses "And when you get back Chief of Intelligence Kaji will begin your physical training regimen."

"W-Why him?" Shinji stutters out.

"Because we figured it would be less humiliating for you if it was a man to put you through that part of officers school instead of lil'ole me." Misato playfully replies with a wink.

"Officers school?" Shiji asks again in a whimper, still bewildered, and already getting sore from standing at a Hollywood version of attention.

Misato nods "I want all of my EVA pilots to be at least E-7 once there is a proper EVA corps. And, as its going to be either you or Asuka as the Colonel running the corps, and the other the Lieutenant Colonel running the Special Operations branch of it, you have a lot of catching up to do, as she's already a Master Sergeant."

"What makes you think it wont be me or Rei at a top spot Misato?" Toji grouses, trying to one-up his friends posture, though his wounded body is already beginning to shake.

"They already work well together, and have leadership personalities. You and Rei are more cut out for upper enlisted or lower commissioned ranks." Misato answers matter-of-factly, beginning to tap her left foot.

Shinji's face scrunches up "How can you tell all of this Misato?"

The usually bubbly womans face again hardens, and she lightly glares at her ward... though with the boys lack of self-esteem it is more than enough to cause him to take a few steps back "I earned my rank in the Impact Wars Shinji. ROTC is the only reason I went to college at all." in a very plain, matter of fact voice. The horrors of the Impact Wars adding all the depth she needs to carry her point and assert her place.

Toji steps back, to stay in line and support his friend, of course "Erm, how are you coming up with this Mis-Sir, er, Mam."

Misato grins sheepishly, though, to anyone skilled at reading people her body language screams uncertainty, confusion and fear. Of course Shinji Ikari and Toji Suzahara are the antithesis of such a person, and are blinded by her bright smile as she replies, in a voice that, on the surface, matches the grin "I... forgot to get my Stars off of President, er, Tribune Ikari's desk when we left. I asked him what exactly my new rank entailed, and he said that I had to build from the ground up, and run, the military of the government he has planned." she pauses to scratch at the back of her head and add "And since I dont know what assets I'll get from the other NERV bases, I kinda started with what I have on hand." with a forced laugh. "Oh, and I dont want any EVA pilots calling me Sir, or Mam. You wont be that numerous, and are too valuable of a resource to stay that aloof from."

"You believe Him?" Shinji asks, a bit of ice creeping into his voice, the already very long and old day having worn down his usual polite, reserved nature by quite a bit. The fact that it will likely continue on into the next for the boy in question not helping matters at all.

Misato opens her mouth to admonish the pilots open slander of their chief of state out of military reflex, but her knowledge of his past with the man in question checks her response to "You havent been getting the live feeds I have then. I'll set it up to stream to your plug... its gonna be a boring deployment otherwise probably. One of the techs has an Extended Operations pill Rits cooked up waiting for you at the plug. Its getting bad down there Shinji-kun... and Gendo's order to the rest of NERV isnt more than a few hours old." she walks forward to collect the lesser of the two pilots, and pats the smaller of the two on the back "Dismissed, Sergeant." action and the promise of a private bunk to let her facade drop without terrifying the only hope they have all that is keeping her moving.

Having his EVA sealed off to save air had been a start. Drifting in space until his mounts magnetized boots secured him to the colossal ship that he had thought was a _normal _giant pyramid eight scant hours ago, being surrounded by naught but stars breathtaking. The lethality of Absolute Zero reduced to a chilly fall day from his perspective an incredibly disconcerting non sequitur. He was still uncertain of the weapon cradled in his Units hands, Akagis assurance that the new positron rifle they had sent him out with _should _work as intended and _shouldn't_ draw more power than the ship he is tethered too can afford to lose not very heartening. Shinji Ikari iss, to be blunt, an incredibly nervous teenager.

Then, Misatos feed went live. First, it was just black clad soldiers, storming the assorted NERV bases, or, in the case of a few branches, the same soldiers appearing from within and executing a brave handful. It was not until the fourth hour of his deployment that Shinji connected the patch they wore with the enemy his father had cited as their true foe. That was when Washington DC had been reduced to a a smoldering wasteland, just under half of the House of Representatives and Senate had arrived early. The remainder, sans the President and Vice president had been happily late, and had just as happily penned and signed a charter all but abolishing the United States of America, the most, perhaps only truly independent nation left on earth in favor of UN rule. Those same black-clad soldiers proceeded to crush the firestorm of rebellions that followed the announcement before they could gain any footing.

At that point, another feed took over, One of the British Empires prime minister gunning down the Royal family, Scotland Yard officers supporting his assault. Parliment was, during this time, a bloody warzone as the supporters of SEELE and those who had mere hours ago been oblivious to it tore into each other, the former group being prepared emerging all but unscathed. France, Germany, and the rest of the free world were similar stories. Shinji tried to contact Asuka, and Rei at this point, not believing what he was seeing, the former brushing him off with "Studying Baka" the latter asleep.

That had taken almost 6 hours, and the remainder of the NERV branches in Berlin and New New York had escaped to orbit. And the UN had been not only abolished, but replaced by SEELE. Old Glory and the Union Jack were the first two flags to lower forever, replaced by a black banner bearing a downwards pointing triangle, containing an apple enveloped by a serpent, a column of four eyes to the fruits right, and a column of three to its left. The rest of Earths myriad of nations flags were replaced shortly thereafter. Shinji was already numb as he tuned out the speeches of each member of the 'new' SEELE ruling council, each more of the same horror. He trained his positron rifle on each building-shaped ship as it approached and verified its IFF frequency before allowing it to join his home, and what he now truly did believe to be mankinds last hope.

One councilman promised to make use of the 'pacification' of the inner, war-ravaged African nations by creating 'STD colonies' to at once make the continent profitable and rid mankind of the terrible ailments humanely. Another promised to make the race strong, via genetically screening the 'loyal' members of the human race for the markers for terminal or incurable genetically transferred diseases and sending them to the same colonies. The men leading what had hours ago been Africa's stable nations stood to applaud the endeavor, and promised to erect walls to ensure the condemned humans could not escape and harm the race. Yet another announced that many of the leaders of the business world had been killed, their companies assets liquidated and transferred to 'forward minded, grassroots companies creating green technologies that will return our homeworld to its former glory'. By the time Chairman Keel took the stage, after what had become eight hours of speeches, Shiji's EO drugs were still going strong, and the whole fleet had been cleared, leaving him fully awake and aware, but bereft of a task to carry out. The old mans speech was fraught with the sort of slander, deception and self indulgence the young Ikari had been expecting, both his and his mounts trigger finger were twitching in rage by the end.

*The next day*

Gendo Ikari merely raises an eyebrow when Asuka bursts into his office as he goes through the roster of what personnel had made it to orbit, flagging most of them for Chief of Intelligence Kaji to look into more closely after he finishes cleaning house in NERV 1. The Chief of State of what would soon be a proper nation has an idea where his best trained Pilot got the uniform, though he did not know they had been made in sizes small enough for almost 14 year old girls. The master sergeant patch is proudly placed on her right shoulder and perfectly straight, though the 'Evangelion Unit 02' is clearly the work of a sharpie wielded by a girl trying her best not to write like one, her a-10 connectors still in place, despite the fact that her hair has been pulled back into a tight ponytail "Why haven't you warned the Baka, Bastard Ikari?"

The man sets his work down to level a glare at the young sergeant, hiding the approval of her swift self-transformation into a clear poster-girl for the EVA Corps once recruitment was needed under his tented hands "Excuse me, Sergeant Soryu?"

The fiery girl growls to herself before clarifying "About Zeruel, Minister Ikari. Why has Sergeant Ikari not been warned about the next angel?" the political rank spit out like an insult.

"Why would he need to be?" Ikari replies levelly.

The girl huffs a sigh, and leaves her perfect 'at attention' stance to stomp her foot and lean towards the man aggravating her as she shoots back "I just finished going through the Dead Sea Scrolls. Zeruel will be the strongest angel after Adam, and will likely make his appearance not long after Badriels defeat." she pauses to step forward and grit her teeth as she continues "We. Need. To. Be. Briefed. Before. Battle."

"You... interpreted the Dead Sea Scrolls yourself, in under eight hours?" Ikari asks, dubious.

Asuka sighs and allows her posture to relax enough to rest her hands on her hips "I graduated college before I turned 14. Effective cramming is one of my many skills." she shakes her head a bit, allowing her hair to properly come to rest on her back, her previous outburst having shaken the low ponytail out, the hairband that had held it in lost to the labrynthine recesses of Ikari's office.

If the room had better lighting, and Gendo did not wear tinted glasses, the pity in his eyes would have been evident despite the mans tone as he asks "So, you have not been following the news on Terra these past few hours?"

Asuka shrugs and flicks her hair, returning it to its usual auburn waterfall as she replies "The Baka tried to forward me a stream, but unscheduled breaks disrupt study."

The man produces a PDA and tosses it to the girl "This is probably much of what he had intended to show you... though this-"

He strikes a key, and a hologram of a stately 50 something man springs to life, in the middle of a press-conference. "Papa?" Asuka whispers to herself.

"I am deeply ashamed that the girl I once considered a daughter had poor enough judgment to side with the doomed, treacherous forces of NERV. But my place as a chairman representing the region once known as Germany on the SEELE secondary council will always come first. As proof, if the terrorist known as Asuka Langley Soryu is ever captured, I promise right now" he pauses to draw a handgun, and work its slide "That I will be the one to carry out the punishment for High Treason on her."

Gendo strikes the same key, and the hologram cuts out "Was not covered on the same global level. I thought you may wish to know." he pauses to regard the now trembling girl that was now standing in the place of the proud officer that had stood before him moments before. "You are dismissed Master Sergeant Soryu, and I will see to it that General Katsuragi is given a full, in depth brief on what we do know for sure, as well as popular conjecture on the remaining angels so that your corps can be properly briefed." He waits for the girl to leave his office, before pressing a button on his desk and ordering "Send in Mr. Felsen."

A short blond haired, blue eyed man with asian facial features and pale skin all but oozes into the room "What in the hell is going on Ikari?" he demands.

"I would have thought the last few hours of newscast would have made that clear. We were puppets, I cut the strings. We now have a handful of angels to defeat, and a corrupt government to crush." Ikari replies in a clearly condescending tone.

The man runs his hand through his greasy mop of hair "Yes yes, I'm sure. What do you need me for?"

"Akagi is our top scientist, you are our best engineer." Gendo pauses briefly as the engineer in question shifts uneasily "She has to keep her own positron weapon research ahead of Mondschien and the Bethany R&amp;D departments maser research. You will have to design and see to the construction of a proper military space-going fleet. Beginning with a vessel that can mount Maya Ibuki's prototype Dirac Drive FTL system. You have four identical prototype engines, and we have as many months of food and oxygen."

"To what end? And what do I get?" Felsen replies, dropping lazily into the chair opposite Ikari's desk.

"To move one of the iron asteroids in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter on this list" Gendo slides a PDA he had pulled from his desk during the exchange to Felsen "to our location over Luna. If you succeed, not only do we all live to see a fifth month, but you will get extreme preferential treatment from the government for military contracts... and most likely be able to acquire enough platinum to set our governments standard while the infrastructure is being laid."

Felsen grins, its a bright toothy grin, but something about it is... off "Count me in then Ikari. I'll have a prototype ready in two months, we'll use one of the engines for a trial run with an unmanned probe after one."

"Be careful with our resources Felsen." Gendo admonishes the man.

The man lazily pushes himself up "Think sputnik. Dogs are limited, but in the grand scheme of things..." Gendo nods, and the man leaves the room, taking the wave as a dismissal.

*That Next day*

Rei Ayanami has been overwhelmed since she had woken up. First had been the assault of her sheets softness on her bare skin as her alarm clock blared out a refreshing reveille. Then her redheaded roomates whining about the coarseness of the same sheets, and the overly loud volume of the upbeat tune that had roused both of them. Her steamed rice and vegetarian miso had been an explosion of flavor, despite Auskas complaining about re-hydrated rations and poor preparation of her bacon and eggs. Then the redhead had insisted on 'hitting the gym to blow off some steam'. General Katsuragi's ordering that the German teen to report to the Eva cages was a nearly terrifying start. Rei's trek to the gym had been a slow one, partly because she did not know what to do once she got there now that she was alone, partly because the scents of every passing member of NERV, and that of the base itself had nearly overwhelmed her. Reaching the gym nearly an hour later, she had been greeted by the sight on one Shinji Ikari, drenched in sweat and doggedly trying to run behind a jauntily backwards jogging Ryoji Kaji, the former clad in a pair of gym shorts, his shirt presumably one of the many sweat-drenched garments piled up about the edges of NERV 1's gym.

Rei felt her face flush at the sight of the boys slowly developing muscles, despite having seen him nude once, and topless more than a few times.

Rei decided to encourage him, so she made her way to the woman's locker room and changed into her school gym uniform before setting out to jog herself. After passing the pair half a dozen times she realized that Kaji was trying to wave her off. Then she noticed the bulge in Ikari's baggy gym shorts, how tightly her bloomers fit, and the self-loathing, embarrassed, self-depreciating look in his eyes. With a nod, she had peeled off, just barely warmed up, to change back to her school uniform and return to her bunk in the pilots barracks.

And now, here she sits, overwhelmed by the recording of Nerv HQ shifting to its true form. The four tallest towers in Tokyo 3, the ones that hosted the civilian bunkers when the city was in combat mode traveling along swiftly lowered rails to the geofronts floor. As they moved vertically to flank the pyramid the cites enormous 3 story shopping center, complete with the warehouse that kept its stores stocked for a year in advance follow the towers. Said towers merged with the pyramid, one to each corner as the shopping centers bulk made up the difference in size to return the ship to symmetry. Another dozen low-rise offices lower, though their 'concrete' shells flow along more tracks and coat the pyramid revealing the lies of their construction, as the massive pyramidal ship is finally given its armor. Tokyo 3 had not merely been a company town, it had been a town built by the company. A series of N2 mines reducing the armor plates Shinji, Asuka and herself had bled to defend to less than ash clear a path big enough for the vessel to the surface. And Terminal Dogma was then consumed in the fires of nuclear fission as the massive pyramids thrusters launch it skyward, then into orbit; all of it is just so... overwhelming. A loud yawn pierces the silence of the finished recording "Your up Rei." she drawls. Rei starts, turning to look at her roommate blankly and confusedly "Unit 00 is repaired, and fit with the Type X gear. Your day on... viewed 289 times? It took less than a minute for HQ to transform to a ship, maybe another for us to hit orbit. Why would you need to watch it that many times?"

"Its just so..." Rei trails off, voice not changing intonation at all.

Asuka pinches the bridge of her nose "Right, suppressants. Just... its been a day!"

"I also watched the news feeds General Katsuragi and Ikari-kun assembled." Rei adds

Asuka's amiable nature flees at 'Ikari-kun', a hateful mask replacing her good-natured humoring of the girl that had been repressed in every way possible. "He took your emotions, your senses, your damn feelings and you still call Bastard Ikari Ikari-kun?" she demands, beginning to pace "And just what did that arschloch do to you?"

Rei stands up, and turns, hands clasped in front of her, hanging at waist level "Nothing." she pauses, something unknown within her screaming, but the voice is incoherent at best and dismissed. "And the Commander has not communicated with me at all since he met with us, the General and the Chief of intelligence."

Though the anger on Asukas face does not diminish, it shifts "Just get to your EVA, Misato is waiting."

* * *

Yea, I know, that chapter moved crazy fast, but if it didnt we would just be getting a re-hash of End of Evangelion but sooner. As to the spaceships, armies, and lack of NERV employees freaking out, I can logic that out. When you scheme on a global level and play with human souls, you have contingency plans; and when you find yourself in outerspace in a spaceship you thought was a building a few hours ago, and that c-span feed you have on your smartphone that you totally arent supposed to be checking at work is making it look like your douchbag boss got you and your family _out_ instead of stuck in the middle of all that crap, most people would be inclined to just shut up and do their jobs.

So, yea, theres chapter 1. Reviews are always welcome and encouraged, thanks for reading!


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I own/make nothing.

Authors notes at the end.

* * *

As the midnight blue form of Eva 03 rises up from the depths of Tokyo 3, Toji forces his hands to be still on the butterfly yokes. He knows they are pulling their punches, giving him more time, more choices than Shinji had. Hell, he even got to trip and stumble around a wireframe practice room and shoot fake guns for a training session yesterday. Still, with 9 Magi units, he is actually in his wounded EVA, and it thinks they are actually deploying. The beast is scared, downright terrified, he can feel it, and it knows he is hurt too, every fiber of its flayed, pummeled, ravaged form is straining to get him away, a drive overpowering even its confusion at its sudden wholeness. The fact that he can even tell this much, and that none of it lines up with what Shinji had said synching with an EVA was like is enough to hurt his head.

So he shakes it, to clear it, and ignores the shooting pains that sends through his left arm, and the shudder of agony that shoots down to the leg below it, the pain amplifying with each inch it travels. Bastard Kaji ran him too hard, that's it, distraction, go for that. Toji had thought they were being attacked by Red when the bucket of ice water had splashed him awake a few hours ago, well mostly awake. Toji's friend turned bunkmates girlish scream had finished the job... at least Makoto had the decency to look apologetic as he shook the bucket dry over Toji's drenched bed. Kaji had just screamed "LETS MOVE MAGGOTS! I WANT YOU DRESSED AND AT THE MAIN GYM IN TEN!" in a very convincing drill sergeants bellow putting the nail in the coffin for their slumber and terrifying both boys fully awake. They had thought the laid-back man had been bluffing, but at eleven minutes, a quartet of NERV guards in full riot gear showed up and chased the soggy pair to the indicated gym.

Kaji then proceeded to put them through a brutally paced 2 mile run, barely breaking a sweat pacing the pair. Not more than five minutes after Toji and Shjinji collapsed across the finish line, the typically jovial spy finally cracked a gin.

"Shinji, I would recommend stretching before we get into the meat of today's exercise, as you won't want to go into your guard duty deployment sore, or the hand to hand combat class after cramped." Kaji said. "Toji, Rits says you're on light duty, so report to the pribnow box. They have your EVA hooked up to our Magi drives, so hopefully you and it should get some good training in today."

* Alternate *

"The building to your right is a simulation armory. Everything we can currently, or should be able to produce within the next six months is available." Ibuki's voice interrupts his reverie "We plugged in raw telemetry from construction materials and technical specs, so the MAGI cores will have a 98% accurate representation of how the real thing will work."

Toji pauses as he watches his HUD flash the names and truncated descriptions of the tools of war rotating before him "Didn't Shinji just kinda get..."

"Thrown against the Angels unprepared and without time to really think?" Ibuki finishes for the boy, as he grabs a large warhammer labeled Pneumatic Great Hammer and affixes it to the magnetic clamp on his virtual Eva's left shoulder pylon.

Toji swaps over to the ranged weapons, and again begins browsing, trying his best to remember yesterdays simulated target practice, and what he was good with "Yea."

Dr. Akagi cuts into the conversation "Even if your Unit is repaired in time to take on one of the remaining Angels, the days of us throwing Evangelions at an enemy and praying are over in light of recent events. You'll sortie fully equipped to the mission profile; or your preference, so you may as well be used to it." Toji selects a weapon labeled Positron Repeater, and hits the barrel cycler, spooling up the massive electric engine and rotating the three positron cannons that make up the larger weapon.

Sachiel's rotten seaweed green form breaks over the horizon moments later, it soulless, empty eyes set in its plague doctor's mask of a face seemingly gazing straight through him. The sirens blaring all day, the panic of trying to hunt down his sister, the sensation of helplessness when he found her broken form pinned under that concrete slab, screaming in agony. That god-awful night sitting outside the infirmary, when Sakura even surviving was a hit or miss thing, when he vowed to himself that he would make whoever was responsible pay, and that he would never let her, or anyone else that mattered to him, be hurt again.

Decking Shinji for getting his sister hurt in his fight.

The second most terrifying experience of his life, riding in the entry plug as Shinji fought Shamshel, and the uncomfortable realization that the guy he had smacked, who he would bet on getting beat by Ken in a straight up fight was being forced to fight in this god-awful war.

Little Sakura nearly falling out of her hospital bed laughing at him as she tried to explain the real reason Hikari had been going with him to the hospital to visit her.

Toji snarls in disdain at the broad-shouldered, shuffling monstrosity before him. He's the big guy, the reliable one, the rock that his friends and family can hide behind when they need shelter, the protector. Something about that seems to resonate with the Eva, and its own fear and instinctive protectiveness is all but banished, as the beast's snarl matches his own.

The teenager is just barely aware of Ibuki exclaiming. "Synch ratio to 78%." before he pulls the top-mounted trigger on the high tech minigun.

Where the positron cannon firing had been a single earth-shattering crack, the three cannons of the repeater in his hands firing in sequence sounds more like the rolling thunder of a skyscraper's controlled demolition, scaled up to match the might of the earth-shattering weapon. The gun bucks and kicks in his hands, and despite his best efforts, the flaring strobe all but blinds him. He knows more shots are going wide than hitting, deaf as he is to the bridge techs status updates. The guns heat gauge shifts from blood red to black where it is super-imposed over his now greyscale thermal sensitive field of vision as it is nearly whited out, 60%, 70, 80, a pair of tiny electric motors resting against the base of his neck begin alternately pulsing to take the place of a warning tone, but he keeps firing until 95% of maximum safe atmospheric heat dissipation capacity is reached, and a *catastrophic overload immanent* readout appears above the heat gauge.

He tosses the gun aside, draws the hammer and rushes forward, not phased in the slightest by the wasteland that had once been city laid out before him as he closes in on his wounded quarry. Its left leg is gone completely, the right a stump ending where its knee had been. Several gaping holes have been blasted through its torso. Sachiels right arm, shoulder, and most of the flesh between that and the cracked mask that is its face is gone completely.

Less than a dozen colossal steps from his prey, they hunter raises his hammer high above his head, a primal, wordless warcry on his lips. The beast that had always been the physical manifestation of everything he hated about its race raises its only remaining arm, core burning brightly as it props itself as far up as it can on its ragged stumps, and extends its AT Field. The Pneumatic hammer thrums in resonance as it impacts the field, which shatters as the hammer is thrown back up over the black and white evangelions head. Toji ignores his bone's angry protest at being forced to strike such a hard surface with such force, and puts all of his energy into a follow-up swing.

The initial impact liquefies most of the angelic flesh between his weapons head and the monsters core as the pistons, already vibrating at an impossibly rapid frequency, extend at an insane speed. Tojis hand, however, had already slid down the haft, perfect form for guiding a sledgehammer to a specific point at full force. Sachiels core is reduced to dust before it can even think to attempt to self-destruct.

Angelic blood all but coating the wasteland before it, a nova of ichor coating the evangelion and extending in a burst pattern centered just before it, the black behemoth stands, panting, hammer clasped tightly in its massive hands, hanging loosely just above its slightly bent knees; its gaze scanning the city in search of its next foe, its next victim. "G-good job Toji, we're, going to close down the simulation for a bit while we decide which one would be best to put you through next." Maya eventually cuts in, before the false reality cuts out.

Misato Katsuragi is able to make a noncommittal grunt of approval, having barely looked up from the reports sitting in front of her since the virtual Sachiel had lost both of its legs and one of its arms trying to charge Unit 03. The fact that Berlin and New York managed to get 6 of the remaining 10 Magi supercomputers loaded onto the escape ships had been a massive coup. The entire city within a city that had been NERV Berlin making it to orbit made it even more of one. The additional fact she had a solid regiment of Bundesweher, about a battalion of tankless tankers and two more of infantry to round out her army, when she added that to her own NERV defense teams and the assorted JSSDF soldiers that had been in their own shelters when Tokyo 3 had combined the shelters and low-rises to form the ship she was currently on gave her another solid Regiment of infantry, the disparate tactical doctrines and focuses giving her all the tools she needs to forge the sum of its parts into a greater whole.

The battalion of surviving US Marines that had been forced back into the NERV New York ships before they launched meant that the smattering of German, Japanese, NERV and American sailors and pilots that would make up her navy would not go undefended. Though American stubbornness and pride meant that the only civilians that made orbit were the kids, scientists, and civilians to far from the initial points of conflict to not know what was going on until they had been herded onto the ships already. SEELE had sent enough soldiers to deal with the rest of the men and women on the base adding whatever weapons they could find to the fight to wipe out everyone left on the ground.

Aoba cuts off her mental agonizing over how to formulate an entire armed forces from the ground up using the bones of four different organizations, in spite of language barriers by asking "He leveled half the city General Katsuragi, aren't you going to..."

She looks up from her laptop, dragging the hand that had been holding her chin up to her forehead, drags it back across her face, lets it slap down to the desk so that the hand can dangle off the edge and finishes "Reprimand him for a lack of control? Have you seen any city out past our happy little floating pyramid?" the long-haired bridge tech sheepishly shakes his head in response, and Misato nods approvingly, before looking back down to her laptop "Extreme prejudice like that is the exact attitude we need to have dealing with the last few angels. The quicker we kill them, the sooner we can deal with those SEELE bastards that damn near wiped out our race to kick off their play at godhood."

The man sheepishly nods a second time, then turns back to his screen, unable to hold his crush and commanders fiery gaze as Maya starts up the Ramiel simulation. Misato groans in frustration, and tabs over to her Dead Sea Scrolls interpretation. Barely two hours before it's just her, Asuka, Shinji, and a barely awake Rei fresh from her 24 hour guard duty rotation on swiftly failing EO drugs and a briefing room. The odds, even if you ignore the looming storm of war that is SEELE and earth, never seem to get better.

Zeruel, the projections of his sheer might such that she can barely wrap her mind around them. She would gladly give both her ovaries to command its power. Arael, with mental strength such that Askua, and maybe even Gendo's mental fortitude and defenses would be but a candle before the typhoon of its sanity-shredding might. Armisael, with the capacity to physically corrupt so insidious that even Rei, still possessing her hundreds of replacement bodies would be terrified to confront it for fear of losing the very thing that makes her recognizable as herself to those around and dear to her. And...

* Alternate *

Tabris howls in pain as the surgeons again move to begin vivisecting his freshly regenerated body. For a week now the Lillim had cut into him, their damnable machines nullifying his ability to project the Light of his Soul to defend himself. "I am Surprised, Mr. Nagisa, that you are still trying to defy us. Is the pain really that much less to a nephelim?" Dr. Mondschein half taunts, half asks as his scalpel makes contact with the S2 organ resting where a humans appendix would be.

"I am Tabris, the Angel of Free will and receptacle to the soul of ADAM" the white haired hybrid insists through gritted teeth.

Mondschein sighs, at first, he had though that his assignment to NERV Bethany, now Research 01 under the freshly formed Terran Empire, had been a punishment. Two weeks after moving in, he had realized that he had been gifted with his own playground. Now that the SEELE councils running the Empire had given him free reign by declaring the Arctic circle a 'free research zone' not only could he truly experiment as he had always wanted, but every graduate student and their dog wants to intern at his lab now. The doctor allows a wicked, gap-toothed grin to split his face "I understand that Lorenz wanted you to be cultured Kaworu, but quoting Roots? Really?"

The nephelim thrashes about on the operating table, though his restraints keep him from moving much at all "You called me by my lillim name. Of course I objected."

Mondschein chuckles, his gold tooth glinting in the fluorescent lighting as he replies "The problem is, by the end of this week, I will have all the data I need to make more like you. So Kaworu Nagisa is no slave name, rather, it is the name of the progenitor to an entire subspecies of humanity."

The nephelim hisses in pain as a long gash is carved into his S2 organ; though he does not break his glare at the doctor lording over him "I don't see how the ability to produce infant abominations is any sort of accomplishment."

The doctor sighs, and with a flick of his wrist opens up Kaworus left lung from base to esophagus, eliciting a sound best described as a frog swallowing a belch from the nephelim, then sets the scalpel aside in favor of a probe. "Infant? No, after cutting you open so much, I have found a way to age the nephelim to perhaps a month or two younger than your current body." The white haired teens defiance does not waver, in fact, his face can best be described as a sculpture with its immobility. Mondschein, offended by this, presses on before the boy can reply "And before you offer the 'soulless, mindless body' argument, with the Dummy Plug and Artificial Soul research I acquired from NERVs servers, they will be fully functioning engineered humans."

As the doctor moves to jot some notes down, Kaworu draws in a deep breath despite the whistling of his deflated lung having air passed through it "You will not break me, human."

Mondschein shrugs, and looks up from his notes "I never expected to break you Kaworu, I simply aim to ease the job of the men who make a living of breaking the spirits of others when I pass you on to them. By the time the first batch of your kin are decanted you will fully believe that a nephelims proper place is serving at the foot of its human master. You will be the one to make certain that your younger brothers never think to rebel, and that your sisters accept the truth that their bodies are not truly theirs. The king of a sub-human race of perfect slaves, progenitor of a family consisting entirely of slabs of meat to be offered to the grinder of war and Evangelion combat."

A growl, just barely audible over the noise of his ruined lung, escapes the boys mouth "You will not break my will; nor will a nephelim taught its true nature by me be without the pride inherent of its superiority."

Mondshcein chuckles as he peels the blood-soaked gloves from his hands as he turns to leave the room "I would certainly hope not, history has long ago proven to us that both warriors and soldiers are useless without their pride. Whether that uselessness is due to the necessity of putting down an inhuman beast no better than a rabid dog; or a cowards desertion and eventual execution, the result is the same." He flicks the lights off, pauses at the door and adds "This may be the last time we speak until after your mental rehabilitation Mr. Nagisa, but for what its worth, I will miss our verbal sparring matches."

"Zeruel is swiftly awakening. Your race will not exist long enough for any of your baseless declarations to matter." Tabris threatens as the door slides shut. In the pitch black chamber, silent save for the whistling of his ruined lung and slow creeping groans of his body regenerating he assures himself that the threat did not ring hollow, and that the feeling in his gut is hunger, not terror.

* Alternate *

Restless, she had left the bottom-bunk of the bunk bed she shares with her albino roommate. Hopefully, she had crept from room to room, in search of her true love, certain that his drunken fling with his old flame was long over by now. The small voice in the back of her head telling her that he is beyond her reach, and back with the _woman_ he **loves**, and will never feel any romantic attraction to the _girl_ he sees as his daughter crushed after the first two hours of insomnia.

She finds him in one of the smaller tertiary break rooms, the one the third shift bridge crew spend their spare time in, she thinks. Kaji is sitting at the rooms sole table, a mound of reports and papers in front of him, back to the door. He groans, and drops his head into his hands "And here I thought Gendo was joking when he said I couldn't start checking all the refugees we took on until I had cleared my agents."

"Section 2 bucking their new leader?" Misatos voice queries. Asuka peeks her head into the room a bit more to see Misato, with just as huge a pile of papers spread out in front of her.

Kaji shakes his head "No, when I let them know just how thoroughly I had outwitted them, they accepted the new leadership easily enough. Its all the other agents that had congregated around the assorted NERV bases that are giving me fits." he pauses to sigh as his forehead drops into his palm, resting his entire upper body weight on the forehead to elbow line. "There's the pair of Mossad agents that had been working together in New York. Cover story straight from a sitcom, girlfriend roommates, ones a stripper, the other a corporate middle manager; sexual tension you can cut with a knife." he forces a chuckle "Turns out the tension was there because they were fucking almost every night, and that one of the two had SEELEs hand so far up her ass that she may as well have been a ventriloquism dummy. I'm just sad that I only got the one video of the two together from my bugs - AH!" he cries out in pain as Misato half playfully swats him upside the head "Anyways, the one we cant trust is out the airlock, and the other is on a leave of absence getting over the loss and betrayal.."

"Realy Kaji, that's it?" Misato presses with mock playfulness as she goes back to poring over her reports.

He slides one set of files into a folder, and grabs up another before shooting back "No, I also had to deal with an ex-KGB, current FSB officer and an equally skilled DGSE agent that had been tearing into each other with their Berlin spy games. They were too lost in their cold-war fantasies that they missed the CIA cell that was thoroughly enjoying misusing their SEELE credit cards in eastern block europe brothels and leading both of them on, and further from the truth."

"Wait, you mean the CIA cell whose imprisonment nearly has my former USMC battalion mutinying?" the purple haired beauty asks, scratching at her hairs natural, black, roots.

Kaji nods in confirmation "The only reason I didn't space them with the Mossad traitor is what those marines would do if I did."

The woman forces a chuckle "Maybe that would have been better, teach them some humility, impress on the damned devil-dogs that we're in this together." she shoves a stack of papers off to the side.

"They fighting you that badly?" Kaji asks, shrugging, then shuffling a stack of papers into a sloppy mound that can only be for known or handled SEELE plants.

Misato shakes her head "After I butted in on that training session they were running the other week they accepted who the Alpha is easily enough." she yawns, and Asuka grimaces as the woman pushes the papers away from her to lean against Kaji's shoulder wearily. "Its the language barrier and accents. Poor bastards seem to think its English we'll all be speaking, since that's what they know."

Kaji snakes his arm around Mnisatos waist, and pauses as she scoots her chair over to lean into the half embrace more fully "Even though all of their command structure speaks Japanese as a first language?"

"Brutal with their accent teasing." Misato adds, a small grin crossing her face, an age old feeling of safety and acceptance washing over her. "And that's all you have to worry about, just the two cases?"

He shakes his head, shuffles a few more stapled together reams of paper into the messy folder "Well, there was the pair of FBI agents who left their SEELE owned superiors remains in a garbage can down by Terminal Dogma... Do you know why we have a wood chipper on base?"

Misato raises an eyebrow "You have met Commander Ikari, right?"

"You really think he would be that sloppy?" Kaji counters, before the hand around Misato's waist does... something that earns him a surprised girlish squawk, a heated giggle and playful swat to the head "and finally there's the quartet of MI6 agents I had to have hauled to separate cells so they don't kill each other. At least one of them is SEELE, maybe three, but none of _them_ seem to want to talk, or know for sure about the others. But that's tomorrow."

For a moment, the only sound in the room is the rattle of the ventilation duct, before Misato asks "Oh? I thought this was supposed to be your top priority?"

"It is" the spy huskilly replies before leaning down to catch Misato with a searing kiss.

Misato leans up into it, wrapping her arms around his neck, and breaking away long enough to utter "I love you" before Kaji descends on her again. Its an old dance, and not the loudest at first, but if you were to listen very closely you can hear the sound of a teenage girls heart breaking as she creeps away from the room suddenly feeling very exposed, stupid and cold in her raciest nightie.

* Alternate *

Gendo Ikaris labyrinthine office is no more. The front of it has been re-modeled into a small waiting room, the door to the hallway leading deeper into the head of states annex guarded by a secretaries desk. Down the hallway beyond the first door to the right is Kozos office, nearly double the size of the broom closet Gendo had had him in previously. Across the hallway is a small visitors bathroom. At the end of the passage, the symmetry is broken one door hugged into the back right corner, a small mail slot betraying it as the entrance to Gendo's apartment, and finally a door at the back leads to the mans spacious, though not vacuous office. "They'll kill me before that term is up Kozo." Gendo levelly states, sliding his barely touched tumbler further away.

Kozo pinches his nose, takes a sip from his drink and counters "An election every ten years will make it a rare enough occurrence that we should have almost complete vote participation. Additionally, we cant afford the chaos of the democratic process every few years, SEELE will crush us during the transition."

The younger man raps his fingers on his desk for a few seconds, leaning forward in his sleek black leather office chair "It still feels too much like I'm crowning myself king. Especially with the bulk of the lawmaking being done by the Magi cores." pushing his chair back a bit across the black marble that was still the office's floor, the walls now a soft ash gray, and sparsely decorated with a smattering of photos and degrees.

Kozo stands from the overstuffed visitors chair, and makes his way over to the water cooler against the wall to pour something more conducive to long term planning before countering "This coming from the man who smirked for nearly a month after he first heard someone refer to him as the Bastard King." He takes a sip before heading back for his chair "And using the Magi to form a technocracy was your idea to remove corruption and nepotism from the system."

"Then you came up with using our citizens smartphones and a government voting app to give the people a voice as they can vote to have laws modified by the magi, as well as elect judges." Gendo continues, now reaching to take a sip of his drink.

Kozo smirks as he sits back down "Then you gave the Magi the right to end a judges lifetime election for legislating from the bench, and yourself the power of veto."

Now the younger man is glaring at the older "And you added a clause where a similar law change cannot be put forth after I spend my veto, the veto is inclusive and carries to the end of term. We have been through all this, what are you getting at Kozo?"

"Your dragging your feet. Just accept that I'm right so we can have the Magi draft our constitution and you can announce the government before people actually believe the rumors spreading about you setting yourself up as a monarch." he pauses, still grinning "Though you are still making yourself the most powerful man on the moon."

Gendo folds his hands to cover his mouth, reflexively falling into the pose he had intimidated so many with "Luna, and that would be Shinji."

Kozo finishes his water, cocks an eyebrow, slaps Gendos hands back to the desk and replies "You ignored him for a decade already, one more will only push the issue back to when the boy is old enough to understand why you did and are doing what you are. Stop finding new reasons to feel sorry for yourself and lets get back to work. We need to finish this in time to select and contract a psychologist for Shinji, Asuka, and more likely than not Ritsuko and Misato. And what are we going to call the Head of State in this constructed nation we have up here?"

Gendo shrugs "Minister, you'll be my Vice Minister, though in the future the two will have to run separately, the same goes for the other offices you cant be promoted into."

* Alternate *

"Your a real natural at this Shinji, so starting after your deployment tomorrow, I'll be changing how we come at your training." the gunnery sergeant announces, standing over the pilot in questions exhausted heap of a form on the floor.

Groaning, Shiji shifts his body so he can look up at his close quarters combat instructor "Less training?" he manages to gasp out, half pleading. His training regimen consisted of a three hour workout, rotating from legs to core to upper body to core again over a four day cycle. Then he went to school. After school on leg days, he was joined by Asuka or Rei, whoever wasnt on guard duty at the firing range. Upper body day meant simulated Eva training after school, at least there were no more damn synch tests. And finally on core days there was close combat training after school.

The sergeant laughs, a big, jovial german with an accent almost as thick as his truly impressive sideburns, before glancing across the small gym the pilots were training in to bark out "Stop slacking Ayanami! You arent that much shorter than the Private!"

Shinji lets his head drop to the side to see Rei struggling to so much as land a hit against 7 feet of former USMC private, the girl dripping sweat as the hulking soldier patiently blocking and dodging as he waits for her to give him the right opening. "How will my training change, sir?" he eventually asks as Rei is again roughly slammed to the mat. "And when will it ease up?" he all but whispers, wondering if there is a part of his body that isnt sore and aching or bruised.

The sergeant reaches down to hoist Shinji to his feet by one of his limp arms, once the teen is slouching on his feet, the man responds "You'll move to proper sparring with that training knife you let me knock out of your hand, and the physical training will ease up to the hour and a half Asuka, Rei and Toji have of balanced exercise once your as far above average for your age they are."

Shinji looks away, not so much towards the door out as the corner near it as he protests "But this is my first day working with knives with you, how can I be a natural?"

The sergeant growls, lashes out and grabs Shinjis face to force him to look him in the eyes "I know your a natural because I reviewed your combat footage in the Eva, and we can move to sparring so soon because aside from how you hold the damn thing its all instinct and what you go for. I'm going to teach you real knife fighting, not some hollywood bullshit with different forms and strikes. So close in, brutal and fast." he pushes Shinji back a bit "And stop slouching, and stop beating up on yourself, your a hell of a fighter, and half the reason you have more core days is to fix your posture."

"Mr. Ikari, just because you are attending class by video feed from your cockpit does not excuse ignoring the lecture. Now can you, or can you not answer the question?" The professor interrupts the pilots reverie, drawing his attention to the holographic screen off to the side of his screen.

Maybe its the exhaustion, maybe all the training and scattered praise from Kaji, and the other soldiers has built up his confidence. Or, perhaps, mood swings are one of the side effects of the extended operations drug mixed in with the LCL in his cockpit, but Shinji Ikari snaps back "Oh, I'm sorry, did I miss more of you monologueing SEELE's cover story?" he glances at the math equation on the chalkboard as the teachers expression shifts from condescension to fury "37" Shinji clips out "Now if you'll excuse me, I need to go back to watching for angels or SEELE ships on their way to kill us all." before killing the feed.

He takes a deep breath, before he starts shaking and nearly hyper-ventilating "Shinji" Misatos voice interjects

"Yes, Misato?" he barely manages to avoid stuttering out, though it does come as a whisper. He is reminded that he should probably log out of the schools IM client as well when it pings twice.

_ "Who pissed in your Wheaties this morning Shin-man?"_

_Red_Baroness "Way to go Baka. Now the old codger is taking it out on the rest of the pilots."_

He kills the client without replying to either as Misato continues "Just because its easy to skip class by killing your client-" a noise somewhere in the command center distracts her for a moment "Radar contact inbound, feeding you the coordinates Shinji, visually confirm.

Shinjis throat constricts, and it feels like his stomach just filled with ice water and dropped into his feet. The day after school started back up for all the kids that had escaped earth last Monday, to much bemoaning the end of the two week vacation from classes since said escape, Zeruel had appeared on mainland Japan and began searching for Adam or Lilith. All of the Eva corps and its command staff now knowing that it is only a matter of time before the Angel of Might checks the last chunk of Liliths flesh that had been left scattered across Japans surface and looks up to find them. He turns his Evas head to face the point in space Misato pinged on his HUD, and begins to zoom in. The ship looks like an over-sized space shuttle, a pair of cannon in either wing root, and a large ram-like structure protruding underneath its cockpit. "SEELE orbital assault shuttle, take it out Shinji.

"T-take it... Misato?" Shinji protests, even as training takes over and he wills his Eva to shoulder his positron rifle.

Misato growls "Its cannons can easily take out any of the ships we still have people living on that haven't docked with the Pyramid yet, and if they hit HQ with that boarding ram the soldiers on board could have a dozen decks or more depressurized before our troops can intercept." for a moment, her face softens, true remorse showing before she adds "I'm sorry Shinji, but you have to take the shot."

The targeting reticle wavers as he tries to superimpose it over the approaching ship, a timer ticking down from five minutes 'ETA to enemy firing range' above it. "Misato, I."

"General, we have a firing solution, do you want me to override fire controls?" Aoba interjects, his voice almost as uncertain as Shinji's.

Shinji pulls his rifle down from its ready position "Why me? Why does it have to be me?"

Misato pinches the bridge of her nose "Shinji, it doesn't have to be you, Lieutenant Aoba can-"

"Pilot has locked out controls from our end!" Ibuki declares into the otherwise silent command center, as Misato's face snaps from maternal to purely bombastic general at a flash.

Shinji shakes his head "No, no, I wont let you, it would be just like the dummy plug again. I'd feel everything you make me do. I wont let you make me a murderer."

Part of Misatos mind is jumping for joy that Shinji is apparently starting to actually find his backbone, though that portion is swiftly locked away as the commanding officer steps forward and begins to very tersely lay out "Because our Evangelions are our only void capable combat craft, Sergeant Ikari. So either you take the shot, or those soldiers will breach our base." she pauses to take a deep breath, then pushes forward "Once they get a beachhead, they will likely be followed by reinforcements who will slaughter everyone in the fleet. Everyone except for yourself, your father, Asuka, Rei, Kaji, Toji, Ritsuko and me. We'll all end up lined up against a will together, well all of us except for Rei. While we are getting shot in the head for treason, Asuka _by her own father_, Rei will be carted off to be forced to start a Third Impact to finish the genocide of the human race." the radio feed, as well as the entire command center are dead silent "Sergeant Ikari, _take the shot_."

Shinji snaps the rifle back up to his shoulder and lines up the reticle once again.

_I mustn't run away, I mustn'trunaway, Imustn'trunaway __Imustn'trunaway __Imustn'trunaway __Imustn'trunaway__Imustn'trunaway__Imustn'trunaway -  
_

He slams his eyes shut, squeezes the trigger, and waits for the recoil to dissipate. "Shot high." Hyuga announces.

Once the rifle is back in a firing position, Shinji opens his eyes. The positron package had barely grazed the now dead in the water ship, its cockpit and more than half its control surfaces simply gone. A handful of the figures floating out into space from the now exposed crew compartment are flailing about in spacesuits, desperately trying to move back towards the vessel as Earths gravity re-asserts its hold. Most of them arent in spacesuits, and utterly still. Shinji winces, and squeezes his eyes shut as a scrap of steel bisects one of the still moving figures, absently reverting the zoom to 1x "Good shot Shinji, bogey has gone silent." Misato announces. Shinji kills the audio/visual feed to command, still squeezing his eyes shut and proceeding to vomit into his entry plug.

* * *

I live!

Not gonna lie, my old job had ground me down into a pretty dark/creativity dead place, I have finally moved on though, and shaken myself out of that funk to get back in the saddle. that said, two sections are just polished off attempts at writing during that phase because, well, this fic was closest to update so I wasnt gonna let it get delayed any longer. The next chapter should finally start to see proper character development, not natural evolutions of existing cannon developments. Also it serves the purpose of letting the dust settle some without a horrible stretch of one character thinking and filling out forms for half a chapter.

Now on to review replies. First off, massive thanks to all three reviewers.

Kobayashi Riku: Rei was supposed to be referring to Shinji in the honorific mishap you asked about, in hindsight, yea, I didnt make that clear enough. Also, your right about me needing to do more research, and it really showed on the medical bits, heh. As to breaking up important things, dont worry, as the story moves on you will get more than a few flashbacks to the actual NERV ex-filtration thanks to a few minor characters I will eventually introduce. As to the terraforming, I have a plan, and have done my research.

Lord Alania: Yea, chapter one was kind of a proof of concept/big bang to get the ball moving, from here out, aside from chunks of empty time being glossed over as a reference to time passed, the fic itself is gonna slow down. As to the Ikari-kun bit, yea, that was supposed to be Shinji she was refering to, I didnt make it clear enough.

Heir of the Void: Whered you go bud? (not that I'm not guilty of dropping off the face of the earth too, heh)

Reviews and C&amp;C always welcome and encouraged, update inbound, this fic is in slot one of five in my writing rotation.


End file.
